Month: November 2017

In Moran and Camargo’s article entitled “Families share tears, hugs, and words in “Opening the Door of Hope” event at Friendship Park,” authors set up the heartbreaking scene. The authors evoke the feeling of sadness to the readers through emphasizing the time frame, stating specifically 3 minutes, using the picture to convey the hardship and difficulty for the family reunion.

The two authors use a number of quotes to contribute to the accountability and reliability of the story, in addition keeping the readers engaged in the story. This quote really stands out for me, “Rosa Mariscal reunited with her son, who has deported four years ago. ‘I cannot describe the emotions because I was so anxious to see him,’ Mariscal said”. As an international student, we do not always get to see our family, and this is why this quote really touched upon me. A child has not seen his mother for four years, from a mom’s point of view that four years is a long time. A child needs love and care from his mother when he is growing up. In contrast, three minutes is way too short compared to four years. Miss seeing the child for four years is harmful to the kid and the mom’s life mutually. The child lack of motherly love, which could be devastating the mental issues. For a mother, miss seeing the child growing up prevent her from maturing with her child along the way as well as result mental insecurity inside her child.

picture cited

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/north-county/sd-me-friendship-park-20170430-story.html

Families share tears, hugs and words in ‘Opening the Door of Hope’ event at Friendship Park

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-WuCuZ1ynNwY%2FT5_lYhHiJAI%2FAAAAAAAABCY%2Fwf_YzAZknP8%2Fs1600%2FDSC00883_2.JPG&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theodysseyonline.com%2Fsouth-africas-door-hope&docid=7TO-gfmOMnqZRM&tbnid=SOUxyd0FB7GimM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwi8zIu2nOXXAhVh04MKHaHABF4QMwhAKAIwAg..i&w=1600&h=1128&safe=active&bih=904&biw=1029&q=opening%20the%20door%20of%20hope&ved=0ahUKEwi8zIu2nOXXAhVh04MKHaHABF4QMwhAKAIwAg&iact=mrc&uact=8

      They should not be the one      

     Our project is about drug trafficking and the immigration issue. At first, when we picked the topic we thought that drug has influenced people of different ages. And it always addresses to immigration problems. We believe there is a connection between these two problems. During our first meeting, I questioned that the drug traffickers are seeking for the money while the majority of the immigrants are seeking for better life status.  However, what my teammates believe is the undocumented immigrants transfer drug in order to exchange the way to get in the United States illegally. I believe that is the bias most people would have because there are so many stereotype news or articles that brings up misleadings. Through the discussion and talks we had during the meetings, we developed a deeper understanding of each other’s belief. Thus, we built up a stable relationship as a team and a handful of cooperative skills. After analyzing the facts, we found out that the majority undocumented immigrants are not related to drug trafficking. Therefore, we came up with an idea of interviewing other people and see how other people think about the issue of drug trafficking and its relationship to undocumented immigrant

         For each interviewee, we ask them 4 questions and we state some facts to them. The first question is “Do you believe there is a connection between drug trafficking and illegal immigration?” Different interviewees have different perspectives. Some people said they do not believe there is any connection between drug trafficking and illegal immigration, others said they think there are some connections but not one cause to another, and some even said they think immigrants use drug trafficking to exchange the way to get in the United States.

       Depending on the response to the first question, we follow up with different questions based on their answers. In the end, we provide facts and data about how many immigrants are actually involved in drug trafficking. This surprised some of the interviewees and resulted in some thoughts from them. We interviewed 12 people in total, and we narrowed down and picked out some of the good responses.

         After interviewing different people, we draw down the conclusion that most of the people show the biased perspective on this issue due to the misleading of media. They judge the problem subjectively without knowing the truth behind it. Some of them fail to give a reason that supports their ideas. Most of them were shocked by the data that only 17% of immigrants are related to drug trafficking. The number is out of their expectation and refreshed their opinions on it. Also, when we ask them about political question due to the immigration problem, everyone shares their own perspective about the political side, whether agree or disagree, which is interesting to us. Therefore, after the whole talking and questioning, some of them changed their mind about this issue. Most of our interviewees are from out RLC. I believe that by doing this project, we start to draw a lot of people’s attention to this situation. More and more people start to share their personal perspective with us as we were putting the project together. We are going to put the clips together to form a documentary by using iMovie. We are going to publicize this documentary on Youtube and other social media so that more people will have the accessibility to it. Therefore, more and more people are expected to be aware of the dangers drug trafficking brings as well as the importance of looking deeper into the truth before making judgments towards others and other races. We will improve on our side by reading through people’s comments and feedbacks in order to keep an eye on how the world think about our ideas and our researchers.  Overall, the project helped us a lot in the sense of understanding each other as a team as well as embracing other cultures and races in a generous way. We learned to respect each other and listen to each other with different ideas. We developed a stable team spirit as well as a concrete relationship.

        We posted our video on Youtube. We hope our video can reach out to more people, and raise the awareness of this issue. 4 days after we posted our video, our video has about 50 views. We got 9 thumbs up and 7 comments. Most of the viewers think our video refreshes their mind about this issue. Also, for some, who do not understand about this issue, we helped them to start getting to know the truth behind drug trafficking. Also, we are able to refresh their perspectives on the relationship between drug trafficking and undocumented immigration.

Youtube- link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A7b9g3nT8Q&t=39s

After reading through Vargas’ “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant”, I can image how hard it can be for an undocumented immigrant who lives in America. Vargas was a young kid, a boy sent by his mom to America. This diction was not based on Vargas’ will. His mom thinks that he could have a better life in America. In Vargas’ article, he illustrates that in order not to be deported, his grandparents forged green card for him. Being treated differently at the young age, Vargas did not quit. He kept pushing the way through.

One part of the article that stood out to me is Vargas kept follow his dream, the American Dream. He wants to stand out for himself also for many undocumented immigrants like him. Vargas wants to use his voice to convince others to think differently about the undocumented immigrants. Although he presents a weak figure as an undocumented immigrant, he built his inside self as a strong and tough fighter for his own sake. The spirit that in his blood made him eventually “created a good life” and also “lived the American dream”.

Overall, Vargas’ story has a happy ending. His story makes me interpret the life of undocumented immigrants better. Throughout Vargas’ article, I can find some common things that are relevant to me. I came to America when I was 14. At that time I struggled with language just like Vargas. Even a legal immigrant, it is still hard to fit in the societal culture. Compare to the undocumented, I already had a lot of privilege. However, I always bore on the pressure from society. It must be harder for those people to achieve their dream.

Picture cited

http://www.elon.edu/e-net/article/85254

https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-01-18/more-mexicans-are-crossing-border-leave-us-here-s-one-family-s-story

https://www.englishclub.com/learn-english/language-skills.htm

In the last few Chapter of The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, the heartbreaking scenes emerge to the reader. The tragic stories are full in the context, some immigrants may or may not make it through the desert. As a reader, it is hard to image the pain or suffer that these immigrants went through.

The undocumented immigrants do not have enough basic supply for their travel, most immigrants died in the middle of the road. In order to achieve their dream, the immigrants have to bear the painful outcome. Lots of survivors not only have to go through mental and physical treatment, but they also have to endure assault from the Border Patrol.

 

Later in the book, Urrea depicts how Mendez betrays the immigrants. “The walker did ask Mendez to go for water, but that Mendas rejected all pesos. It was only the long green for Mendez” (Urrea 153). When they were out of water, Mendez took the money from the immigrants and lied about to get water and help. Without any reasons of coming back and helping these immigrants, Mendez left them to die. The action that Mendez did on the immigrants is dehumanization, hard to believe that a human will does such a thing to another.

From my point of view, Mendez’s crime is unforgettable. Mendez only cares about himself and the money, he does not see the immigrants as human beings. In often times, we do not realize how someone’s actions or words can have such a drastic impact on a single individual. Under that circumstances, people should be more united. They cannot turn their own back to another based on their own benefits.

Picture Cited

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/02/middleeast/saudi-yemen-robertson/index.html

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alfredo-j-ramirez/an-open-letter-to-immigra_b_9191416.html

http://newsfirst.lk/english/2014/07/group-illegal-aliens-sri-lanka-caught-entering-america-mexico/46930

In the first chapter of The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea, the author demonstrates the difficult circumstances that these undocumented immigrants have to face. The undocumented immigrants have to cross the desert to reach to the “wonderland”. By beginning with a despair description of immigrants’ condition on the road, the author shows that how desperate they want to seek for a better life.

 

In order to let the reader to put themselves in these undocumented immigrants’ shoes, in the first paragraph the author states “One of them wandered back up a peak, one of them was barefoot. They were burned nearly black, their lips huge and cracking, what paltry drool still available to them spuming from their mouths in a salty foam as they walked”(Urrea 4).

The author uses lots of detailed and feature descriptions, which helps the reader to image how rough condition the undocumented immigrants were going through. Urrea shows great details to keep the readers engaged in the context. In Chapter One, Urrea depicts the horrifying situation facing the undocumented immigrants, and tries to evoke the sympathy from the readers. Their basic needs, like water, cannot be satisfied. These undocumented immigrants go through the desert like gamblers, they are betting their life on the risk. By reading through the book, I can feel the eagerness that immigrants have to find a new life. Thought out the Chapter one, I love the writing style that Urrea presenting. By using colloquial language to tell a real story, it interests the readers into the plot and is able to distribute to a wider range of audience.

Work Cited

                           Urrea, Luis Alberto. The Devil’s Highway: a True Story. Back Bay Books, 2014.                   

https://dabrownstein.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/corbis-42-15733156.jpg

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Native+American+Shadow+Wolves+Track+Smugglers+izQ-axCe22bl.jpg